UX/UI and Graphic Design

A course covering the information and skills needed to succeed in academic studies, including study skills, setting academic goals, managing time, and technology skills such as word processing, presentations, and using Excel.

Students will concentrate on utilizing design principles and theories in problem solving, focusing on the importance of layout composition. Emphasis will be on the process of design development from roughs to comprehensives, layout, and the use of grid systems for multi-component layouts. Critical analysis will be applied through the usage of type and layout to create clear, communicative design. Additionally, students will get an introduction to the principles of color and an exploration of color theory as it relates to print and digital media. Students will also receive an introduction to Adobe Creative Cloud.

This course will explore the use of Adobe Creative Cloud digital design tools. Students will gain a thorough understanding of design techniques by using tools to create compositions, prototypes, web and print media, and time-based media. They will also learn about file types and exports for web and print media.

This course will explore printed communication and the use of typography as an exclusive element of design. The course will focus on the development of marketable, original and creative problem-solving solutions with an emphasis on professional presentation techniques. This course includes three distinct areas of learning in the subject of typography: Traditional Typography is an introduction of lettering skills and the history and foundation of letterforms. The placement of display and text type in a formatted space, and the relationship between the appearance and readability of letterforms, are also studied. Students will work in a traditional context of hand-rendering type and will also be introduced to contemporary typesetting technology. Expressive & Experimental Typography is designed to further investigate the power and beauty of expressive typography and its applications. The use of computer software and non-traditional media are explored. Projects will include kinetic typography, unique typeface/font design, and creative title designs. Contemporary Typography will explore the current design trends in typography. The work of contemporary type designers will be analyzed. Emphasis will be placed on experimentation of creative, innovative and new-wave type designing. By the conclusion of this course, students will complete a final project that can be added to their developing capstone portfolio.

User experience (UX) design centers on the interaction between real human users and everyday products and services. In this course, students will learn key theories and processes to help them create usable, useful, and delightful products that answer users' needs. User Research involves qualitative and quantitative research practices aimed at empathizing with target users and discovering and defining their needs. Conducting research such as user interviews and synthesizing the findings into personas, customer journey maps, and more are key skills covered in this section. Information Architecture is the process of establishing flow between a person and a product, service, or environment. This section focuses on how to organize, structure and label content, functions and features to support usability and findability. Usability Testing engages the student in learning user-centered testing techniques to evaluate a product by testing it on real users. Items covered include understanding how to design a test, planning the test, logging and analyzing data, measuring usability, prioritizing problems, choosing recommendations from findings, and persuading from those results. Students in this course will work with software tools such as: Adobe XD, and or Figma. By the conclusion of this course, students will practice generating a UX case study asset to add to their growing capstone portfolio.

This course provides a practical overview of interaction and visual design practices and how they work together to build toward a strong product. Learn and practice techniques for developing products around user goals. Interaction Design - Students will learn how to take data distilled through research to sketch and develop wireframes and prototypes grounded in proven interaction patterns and usability principles and testing them using usability testing knowledge gained in UX Process & Theories. Students will learn how to: - Translate ideas into interactions by developing prototypes and simulations. - Choose the appropriate fidelity of prototype for the phase of design. - Articulate the benefits of fast iteration. - Create paper prototypes. - Properly explore the design space before deciding on a solution. Visual Design - Adapting design fundamentals in color, hierarchy, and typography learned in earlier courses, students will learn how to take their concepts from wireframe to pixel-perfect UI (user interface) design prototypes. Students in this course will work with software tools such as: Adobe XD, Sketch, and or Figma. By the conclusion of this course, students will practice generating a UX case study asset to add to their growing capstone portfolio.

In this course, students will build upon what they've learned in Interaction & Visual Design and UX Process & Theories to develop more advanced UI design techniques. This course introduces students to the role and development of design systems to manage UI design components for a product. Students will learn to leverage atomic design principles for creating and categorizing UI components that can be applied to high-fidelity design prototypes. Prototypes and design system elements developed in this course will be added to the student's expanding UX/UI portfolio.

This course centers students on the production of a usable online portfolio of design case studies demonstrating all skills and competencies acquired during the program. Students will learn how to select existing or determine new projects for their portfolio, write case studies describing their process on projects, and how to organize and prepare the artifacts of their design process for display online. Previous projects may be revised and updated to be included, or students may construct new projects to satisfy the needs of a professional UX portfolio.